3 things to know about raising Pennsylvania's 911 surcharge

Everybody loves to gripe about the long list of surcharges and extra fees tacked onto their phone bills.

One of those pesky fees could be on the rise for Pennsylvanians, but the trade-off would be a better funded 911 emergency phone system. State lawmakers are chugging toward an overhaul of Pennsylvania's emergency communications law, including raising the surcharge that funds counties' 911 call centers.

Lawmakers have been studying the issue for more than two years, but time is now of the essence. The surcharges for wireless services expires June 30, leaving the General Assembly with a shrinking window to act.

The state House has already approved a bill that would raise the fee, and the Senate is considering it, while pondering several changes. Here are three things to know about the bill, as it stands now, that could lead to phone companies receiving more calls about all those fees:

The state already charges a high fee for 911 services

Pennsylvanians with landlines already pay a 911 surcharge that ranges from $1 to $1.50 a month, depending upon the size of the county in which they live. Lawmakers set that rate in 1990 and added a $1 monthly fee for wireless customers in 2003.

Lawmakers have also tacked on a $1 fee for users of Voice over Internet Protocol, while consumers who purchase prepaid cellphones and minutes must also fork over a buck at the time of the transaction.

The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee in 2012 found the state's 911 surcharges were relatively high compared to other states.

"With a few exceptions, Pennsylvania's surcharges are higher than the amounts levied by the other states we reviewed, many of which ranged from $0.50 to $0.75," the committee noted in a report about the state's 911 emergency telephone system. "Pennsylvania also ranks among the top states in total surcharge revenues collected ($197 million in 2011), but exact comparisons between states is difficult because of reporting differences."

All phone users would see an increase under the aptly named House Bill 911, which would make surcharges a uniform $1.65 a month.

If approved, that would make Pennsylvania's surcharge the third highest in the country, said Frank Buzydlowski, director of state government relations for Verizon, the largest wireless telecommunications provider in the United States.

The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has lobbied for an even higher fee of $2, contending that better reflects the pace of inflation since 1990. That would not have passed the House, where there were even "serious challenges" to raise it to $1.65, said state Rep. Steve Barrar, the sponsor of the legislation.

"We may have to revisit this in four or five years again and look at it, but I thought that the prudent thing to do was to go with what we thought we needed right now," said Barrar, R-Delaware.

Most of the money would cover a funding shortfall

When state representatives passed HB911 earlier this month, Barrar issued a news release that said the legislation would "prioritize the development of next-generation 911 technology."

"Citizens would be able to contact emergency responders via a host of new communication methods including texting, calls from video, non-human (e.g. OnStar) calls and calls from non-specific devices, such as an iPad," the release stated.

While Barrar painted it as a pathway to new technology, even he acknowledged Tuesday that about three-quarters of the surcharge revenue would go toward eliminating an existing funding shortfall for 911 call centers.

The current surcharge funds only about 70 percent of call center expenditures, according to the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.

A House fiscal analysis of Barrar's bill projected that surcharge revenue for $190 million in 2014 would fall well short of the $292 million that counties would spend on call centers. His bill is expected to net $314 million to effectively eliminate that funding gap.

Without higher surcharge revenue, counties must lean upon property taxes to make up the difference, said Douglass Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

Rising personnel costs are driving the funding gap. Call center expenditures have spiked 27 percent since 2006 as call centers take on more responsibilities that aren't directly related to answering 911 calls, according to the 2012 LBFC report.

The committee noted that call centers have taken on the role of dispatching emergency responders, fielding non-emergency calls about issues such as tall grass and illegally parked vehicles and even answering tip lines.

While saying raising the fee to $1.65 would address current needs, Hill also said there is no guarantee it would lead to next-generation technology, such as video, OnStar systems and even sportswear that can detect health problems.

"There's no limitation right now other than us having the fiscal capacity to do that," Hill said, speaking after Tuesday's hearing before the state Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Sunset provision means fee could rise again and soon

Barrar's bill would sunset after four years, giving lawmakers a chance to raise the fee again if they believe a higher surcharge could lead to improved technology.

"I don't want to create that expectation, but if we need to, that is absolutely a possibility," Barrar said, while indicating his hope is the funding formula that's part of his bill works.

While the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency would drive out revenue for upgrades, it's difficult to predict where technology will go in four years, Barrar said. That means it's also hard to predict whether the $1.65 surcharge will be enough.

PEMA Director Richard Flinn Jr. said $1.65 would suffice. For now.

"It puts a Band-Aid on it," he said, "but my approach, even discussing it with the governor on Friday, is that we recognize that it doesn't do a long-term solution."